Review – Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties

Considered the dividing bridge between fans of the Yakuza franchise, the third game in the franchise since its launch has made fans speculate whether it delivers an excellent story with weak gameplay or the total opposite of this statement. I admit that it caught me off guard in several aspects, whether for better or worse, after all, the Kiwami style has proven to be a real double-edged sword for SEGA.

The new version of the calmest page in Kiryu’s life brings changes to the story, gameplay and the game’s general progression system. New sidequest systems, made from scratch, come into play to keep the player traveling between Kamurocho and Okinawa. The game also features the Dark Ties DLC, another double-edged sword in this tangled project.

Feeling the sand under your feet

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties opens with Kazuma Kiryu leaving and heading to Okinawa, where he intends to run the Morning Glory orphanage alongside his adopted daughter Haruka. At first everything seems to be fine and at peace, but this calm ends when Glória da Manhã becomes the target of one of Ryukyu’s Yakuza families. The Ryudo Clan begins as Kiryu’s antagonists on the island, but soon becomes allies against the Tamashiro family.

While living his reasonably peaceful life in Okinawa, Daigo Dojima suffers an attack in Tokyo by a mysterious pair of men, who are familiar faces to fans of the series. Shot, Daigo disappears from Tokyo and the same duo attacks the patriarch of the Ryudo family, shooting him and seriously injuring him. All of this occurs precisely on the plot of land where the Glória da Manhã orphanage is located!

In addition to these mysterious men behind the title deed to the lot, two different politicians from the Japanese government are keeping an eye on the place. Yoshinobu Suzuki, a member of the liberal party and Minister of Domestic Tourism, wants to build a luxury resort on the orphanage’s waterfront land. Meanwhile his political rival, Ryuzo Tamiya, the Minister of Defense, wants to build a new military complex at the same address.

Kiryu finds himself drawn back to Kamurocho, having to go back and find out who is behind these attacks, who are the strange Americans linked to the CIA and finally uncover who is behind all these machinations that put so many lives at risk. Kiryu doesn’t know it yet, but this will be one of the most important events in his career as Fourth President of the Tojo Clan and Yakuza.

A new version of the past

The player will be introduced to an old version of the city of Ryukyu, with the biggest changes being the new social networking system implemented through LaLaLand cell phones, where Kiryu can connect with people through the system called Red Thread of Destiny. Additionally, there is the new combat style taught to the player by Miyazato, the master of the style who resides in the city.

What was previously just training with the character Shoji Yonashiro became a new sidequest, used to teach in a more direct way the same combat style as the original game. Now, Kiryu’s advancement through the dojo and world activities are intertwined, as each experience point gained by completing tasks helps the player progress on his training journey with the master.

Miyazato also becomes important because he is the father of Tsubasa, the leader of a gang of rowdy girls and one of the big news in this version. After meeting her, Kiryu shares the leadership of the Bosozoku gang called High-Sight with Tsubasa, in the new Marginal Dragon mode. I was hooked on this sidequest, finishing it completely before the main game and even facing secret bosses like the Amon Gang.

There are several sidequests to do. Even the Reapers, here called the Avengers, have returned! However, the revamp of Kiryu’s upgrade system is one of the negative points of this new version. The title gives up the hilarious and unusual Revelations system, where Kiryu witnessed bizarre events to learn new skills, in exchange for a simple talent tree. In other words, we won’t see the old lady doing somersaults in 4K!

Guiding a new generation

Before returning to Kamurocho for good, I admit that I ended up getting very attached to the children from Glória da Manhã and finished the entire orphanage sidequest in the third chapter of the game. Seeing Kazuma and the children becoming closer was a lot of fun, helping them with their youth problems, homework, sewing clothes, cooking, planting and taking care of the various animals there.

In addition, Glória da Manhã functions as a local grocery store. The ingredients planted or fished by Kiryu, in addition to being used to prepare delicious meals for him and the children, are also used for sale and increased recognition of the place. This generates income for improvements to the orphanage itself, items for the motorcycle gang and even to personalize Kiryu’s cell phone.

Increasing the relationship with the children allows the player to see that even Kiryu’s quiet life is still full of emotions. In addition to improving the quality of the grocery store and watching the children grow up, completing tasks at the orphanage causes Haruka to give cash rewards to Kiryu, making it easier to complete the talent tree quickly; In the fourth chapter I had already completed it.

Unfortunately, the new fishing gameplay system is inferior and less fun than the original, preferring the quantity of fish over the quality of the minigame. But on the beach you can also swim in the sea and watch some crazy cutscenes, like the one with the super fast turtle man. However, the original beach was much more vibrant, with better balanced colors and a look worthy of that PS3 style.

Returning to the stomach of the beast

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties takes place mostly in Kamurocho, with Kiryu returning to Okinawa sporadically. Kiryu will see allies fall and face powerful rivals, having to face someone from the past, but will this person be who he believes he is? During the course of the story we will meet Kiryu’s great new enemies, namely Tsuyoshi Kanda, Yoshitaka Mine and Goh Hamazaki.

This is where the series gets lost and takes the game with it, mainly due to the leaks and the great controversy that the title has caused since its announcement. The casting of Teruyuki Kagawa as the voice of Goh Hamazaki generated controversy due to crimes committed by the actor in 2019, and the studio has already fired other professionals for minor problems in the past, generating accusations of hypocrisy.

The other big problem is in its ending: without giving direct spoilers, we discover that the controversial Daidoji group attacks again. Characters that were previously dead and buried come back to life in the prologue and another event ends up completely changing the direction of the narrative that kicks off the events of Yakuza 4 in a canonical way.

The most striking thing about all these changes is that, for some reason, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio decided to show why they occurred and it became something even more bizarre for history and physics. It’s something like the infamous “Somehow, Palpatine returned” from the Star Wars saga. This is, without a doubt, an extremely negative point of this remake.

Yoshitaka Mine’s ambitions

The extra chapter Dark Ties is based on the sub-story created for Mine in Ryu Gotoku Online, showing how he met Kanda and joined the Yakuza, as well as deepening his bond with Daigo Dojima. This expansion of the story has a new combat system, where Mine has a dark and extremely violent side, being a total opposite of his stoic, cold and calculating way.

Originally he and Kanda are just soldiers of the Nishikiyama family, but as time passes (and with Mine’s machinations) he and Kanda soon rise to the top of the family, swearing solemn brotherhood between them. Mine works so that everyone in Kamurocho sees Kanda as a benefactor for the place, a true sanctified entity capable of solving any problem. But appearances can be deceiving and the course of the narrative proves this, especially in the missions called Hora do Mano, where the two talk frankly and openly alone in a soapland.

Just like in Yakuza Kiwami 3, Mine is also cunning during the events of Dark Ties and knows that a pawn will always be sacrificed to preserve more powerful and important pieces on a board. We follow the young and cunning Yakuza to deepen his relationship with Daigo and gain the affection and consideration of the head of the Tojo Clan, even though this leads to events never expected by him – and, honestly, by the players.

Mine also has its own (and huge) side quest, known as Survival Hell. A mix of Kiryu’s Purgatory Coliseum, with large-scale Musou battles. In one-on-one fights, Mine needs to survive three fights in a row against a single very strong opponent, while in survival mode he needs to go through waves of enemies and sound three gongs, until he can face one of the five mysterious enemies that watch him.

Aimed at one, hit another

There was a lot of demand for a chapter focused on Mine, after all, many liked the character since his first appearance in the original 2009 game. However, Kiwami’s treatment meant that the end of his story left a bitter taste for long-time fans. His violent combat style and Dark Awakening mode are reminiscent of a smarter version of Kiryu’s “Beast” mode in Yakuza 0, hitting hard and even lifting enemies, thus clearing his and Kanda’s path through the streets and alleys of Kamurocho.

Mine’s sidequests are of little importance or fun, serving only to complete Kanda’s Damage Control minigame, where we must do tasks around Kamurocho to improve the neighborhood’s view of it. You can easily complete both Kanda’s minigame and Hell’s Survival before you even get halfway through Mine’s story.

The game proves that excess can often seem like the right path, but it can end up saturating the player. In the main story the combat is fair and the problem of enemies constantly defending has become irrelevant, as Kiryu and Mine have tools to get around this, leaving behind the nickname “Blockuza” that the title had received in 2009.

The thing really gets going in the sidequests, as the enemies become true sponges of damage. The Amon secret bosses, for example, are known for being challenging, but Jo Amon and his gang at the end of the game nearly gave me an aneurysm from the amount of damage they absorbed so I could finally reach 100%.

The dragon’s rest

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties solves most of the problems that players had, such as the rhythm of the orphanage and the excessive defense of enemies, since Kiryu has the Dragon of Dojima style and the improved weapon style. On the other hand, it creates new problems with the controversial cast and narrative choices that alter the original, making the game seem like a reboot.

Visually, the game is still beautiful, even if it has the problems of the Kiwami series with coloring. Instead of the green of Kiwami 2, we have blue as the predominant color, a tone that overflows in light and dark areas. Ryukyu also features very strong colors, unlike the original game which, as previously stated, still remains more beautiful and visually interesting. Overall, the game is very light and didn’t give my RTX 4060 and Ryzen 5 5500X3D any trouble, running with a pleasant FPS regardless of the scene.

The sound part is still excellent! The bustling centers of Kamurocho and Ryukyu are alive, full of voices and ambient sounds. Karaoke could feature a lot more songs, leaving Yakuza 0 and 6 to reign as the best entries in this minigame in the series to date.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a game that will once again divide fans. I, unfortunately, side with those who didn’t like the changes. Those who complete the story and expansion, having played Yakuza 4 previously, will understand why. Other than that, it’s still a good experience overall, with the core of the game being fun and well-rounded. So much so that I did 100% without even noticing.